Mutual funds

Morningstar may remove leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds from its star rating system and track them separately, Scott Burns, the firm’s ETF director, told attendees at Morningstar’s ETF conference last week.

A fund devoted to investing in Build America Bonds would have a tough time avoiding debt backed by the states of California and Illinois altogether. Eaton Vance is doing its best.

The exit of capital from mutual funds in the United States has slowed down, but showed signs of picking up steam again this month.

The company calls the two sectors “important fixed income areas.”

PIMCO Tuesday announced two new exchange-traded funds, the PIMCO Build America Bond Strategy Fund and the PIMCO Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index Fund.

Observers note the move comes amid intensifying competition among equity funds.

The sell-off in municipal bonds finally appeared to sap some retail demand for state and local government debt last week as muni mutual funds reported taking in the paltriest amount of new money in six weeks.Municipal bond mutual funds that report their figures weekly posted a net inflow of $638.2 million during the week ended Sept. 15, according to Lipper FMI, the lightest inflow since early August.

David Corkins, a star manager at Janus who sucessfully ran the Janus Mercury and Janus Growth & Income funds and executed an impressive turnaround on the flagship $12 billion Janus Fund, started hedge fund Arrowpoint Partners in 2009 - delivering returns of 33%.

Life used to be so simple.

She was hired by GAMCO in December 2005 with 20 years experience in mutual fund treasury operations with various fund companies. In May 2009, she was promoted to senior vice president.

The sell-off in municipal bonds finally appeared to sap some retail demand for state and local government debt last week as muni mutual funds reported taking in the paltriest amount of new money in six weeks.

The high-yield market has been going great guns this year, but there’s a new caveat for those kicking the tires: a slower-than-expected recovery.

Fixed-income and commodity ETFs move up as equity prices slide.

"Moving away form AAA ratings is sacrilege," protests Peter Crane of Crane Data.

Fearful of how a change in ratings will help them market their funds among investors, money fund managers are chafing at the idea of Moody’s’ proposed new ratings. Investors are used to looking for AAA-rated money market funds, and it will take some time for them to get to a scale ranging from MF1 to MF4, money managers tell The Wall Street Journal.

WASHINGTON — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus on Thursday proposed to extend the Build America Bonds program for only one year in legislation he unveiled that would extend several expiring or expired bond and tax provisions.

Margins of asset management firms have declined significantly in the past 10 years, according to a report from kasina. In 2000, operating margins stood at 39%. Today, they are 29%. And net margins, 27% 10 years ago, are now 20%.

Thin supply of short-term holdings and low yields are pushing managers into complex, potentially risky and illiquid instruments.

But there were also fewer hedge-fund launches, as investors continued to shun startups and smaller firms in favor of large, established players.

Despite the new rules that the SEC imposed on money market funds in January – or perhaps because of them – managers are challenged to find an adequate supply of investments. The scarcity of debt with a maturity of less than seven days, combined with low yields, is pushing money market fund managers into areas of the fixed income and cash management markets they previously would not seek out, The Wall Street Journal reports this morning.